Brussels, 23/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 23 March, the European Commission adopted two proposals to bring European law into line with the rules laid down in the Maritime Labour Convention. The main objective of this is to ensure that the flag states and the port states effectively apply maritime labour standards on board ships, irrespective of their flag. The first of these proposals focuses on reinforcing the responsibilities of the flag states regarding social aspects, thanks to setting in place monitoring mechanisms in all member states, and in line with the directive on the Maritime Labour Convention. For the port states, the Commission has put forward the idea of increased control, obliging ships of 500 gigatonnes and above to possess a Maritime Labour certificate and a declaration of compliance with the Convention. (SD/transl.fl)